Sassoon the Man
Anglo-Jewish stock, his mother an English woman, a Miss
of poetry--usually Shelley, Masefield and ThomasHardy--and last and chiefly--but always with a rapid,tumbling enunciation and a much-irked desperate airfilled with pain--of soldiers. For the incubus of waris on him so that his days are shot with anguish andhis nights with horror.
He is twenty-eight years old; was educated atMarlborough and Christchurch, Oxford; was a master offox-hounds and is a captain in the Royal WelshFusiliers. Thrice he has fought in France and once inPalestine. Behind his name are set the letters M.C.since he has won the Military Cross for an act ofvalour which went near to securing him a higherhonour.
Words in this poem
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- incubus n.
- A demon; a fiend; a lascivious spirit, supposed to have sexual intercourse with women by night. Tylor. [L., the nightmare. Cf. Incubate.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sassoon the Man is in the public domain. This text is taken from Counter-Attack and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8930; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Siegfried Sassoon, Sassoon the Man, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8930, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-counter-attack/sassoon-the-man.html, id L04685.
Form and metre
Sassoon the Man is 15 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 73% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 3 -A---A-- at · ofA · welsh · in · — · ofA · higher · honour
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Anglo-Jewish stock, his mother an English woman, a Miss | 15 | /˘/˘··/˘·/˘/˘·· |
| of poetry--usually Shelley, Masefield and Thomas | 12 | ·/˘/˘/˘/··/˘ |
| Hardy--and last and chiefly--but always with a rapid, | 14 | /˘···/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| tumbling enunciation and a much-irked desperate air | 11 | /˘······/˘· |
| filled with pain--of soldiers. For the incubus of war | 13 | ····/˘··/˘˘·· |
| is on him so that his days are shot with anguish and | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| his nights with horror. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| He is twenty-eight years old; was educated at | 13 | ··/˘····/˘·˘· |
| Marlborough and Christchurch, Oxford; was a master of | 11 | /˘·//˘··/˘· |
| fox-hounds and is a captain in the Royal Welsh | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| Fusiliers. Thrice he has fought in France and once in | 12 | ············ |
| Palestine. Behind his name are set the letters M.C. | 14 | /˘········/˘·· |
| since he has won the Military Cross for an act of | 14 | ·····/˘·˘····· |
| valour which went near to securing him a higher | 12 | /˘····˘/˘··/ |
| honour. | 2 | /˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.